International Top Five - Mamma Mia Hits a High Note

September 10, 2008

Mamma Mia! captured top spot thanks to a record-breaking debut in South Korea. In that market, it opened with $3.40 million on 513 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.08 million, which was the best opening for a musical in South Korean history; however, it still had to settle for second place. The film was also in second place in the U.K. with $2.52 million on 493 screens for a total of $99.42 million after two months of release. Overall, the film made $16.36 million on 3,430 screens in 39 markets for a total of $281.54 million internationally and $417.98 million worldwide.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor shot into second place with $12.73 million on 4,505 screens in 55 markets for a total of $257.14 million. Of this total, an estimated $7.9 million was raised on 1,158 screens in China, which was the biggest opening for the studio in that market. This is hardly surprising given the setting of the film. If the film can hold relatively well next week, it could reach $300 million internationally, and it is already the best in the franchise.

The Dark Knight fell from first to third, but it was closer to first than fourth with $12.24 million on 4,786 screens in 57 markets for a total of $435.50 million internationally and $947.50 million worldwide. The film is coasting on holdovers at the moment, and I don't think it will reach $1 billion in total. This might be a blessing in disguise if the studio does decide to give it a box office push for the Oscars, as $1 billion worldwide will be an easy goal, even if it opens just in the United States. This added publicity could be enough to push it over $600 million domestically, and into top spot domestically.

WALL-E climbed a spot to fourth with $6.81 million on 3,050 screens in 37 markets for a total of $184.69 million. It only had a couple smaller openings this week including Sweden ($757,000) and Finland ($370,000), to so with Norway and Denmark last weekend. The film's biggest market of the weekend was France where it made $1.1 million lifting its total to $15.2 million. Next week it should see some solid growth as it opens in Australia, while it still has yet to open in Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Kung Fu Panda moved in the other direction, down to fifth with $6.72 million on 2,758 screens in 35 markets for a total of $397.33 million internationally and $611.56 million worldwide. Most of its weekend total came from Italy where it remained in top spot during its second weekend of release; there it added $2.97 million on 669 screens for a total of $14.83 million.

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Filed under: International Box Office, The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, Mamma Mia!, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor